


the first year

by jarpadcutie (starkleckis)



Series: working out my HTTYD grief through bad writing [2]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/M, I really don't like this but have fun, I'm just sad, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-06 15:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17942321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkleckis/pseuds/jarpadcutie
Summary: "It was one year before Hiccup rode a dragon again."-*-*-*-Hiccup was always worried something would happen to Toothless. What is he going to do now that it has?





	the first year

**Author's Note:**

> this is the biggest oof
> 
> I was sleep deprived and wanted to keep writing on the first week and this is what I ended up producing
> 
> it works as a stand-alone but if you want more context it follows the first one in this series
> 
> have fun with this I guess

It was one year before Hiccup rode a dragon again.  
  
New Berk was thriving. After many long months of construction and plenty of complaints from Gobber about not having Grump around, they’d gotten the Smithy working. From there, it wasn’t long before the Berkians fell into a new routine. It was an odd routine, for sure, but it was the closest thing to normal they had.  
  
Dragons were no longer their foes. They had no raids, no urgency to create weapons, and no longer needed to worry about building their houses to withstand fire. However, dragons were also no longer their friends. The porches and bays which had become integral in the architecture of so many houses on Berk were not added, no stables or hanger was built, and there was no training arena.  
  
Their warriors rescued dragons from trappers and hunters and sent them in the direction of the hidden world, Eret leading each of the very successful expeditions. Hiccup so badly wanted to go, but the Chief of Berk and “Dragon Master” had too high of a profile to risk being captured. They still had enemies at work, and if one of them found that Hiccup had been to the Hidden World, it could mean the end of dragons for good.  
  
Instead, he continued work in Gobber’s shop. He wasn’t a great warrior, nor did he like sitting around and doing chiefly things all day. He was a tinkerer, and he always had been. Work didn’t move as fast without dragon fire anyway, and Hiccup knew that Gobber could use an extra set of hands. Thankfully, he’d had his own little office built in.  
  
He’d finally gotten around to making himself the perfect peg leg, but it was strange to not have a saddle to go with it. He looked longingly at the red painted tail fin he had mounted on the wall, smiling sadly. He missed Toothless more than anything in the world.  
  
When he finished his orders (seriously, how many buckets do Bucket and Mulch need?) he packed up and said goodbye to Gobber, making his way back to his house.  
  
It was a vast improvement over the tent he’d lived in for the first six months on New Berk. Never one to boast his own importance, he helped with construction of everyone else’s houses before he would allow anyone to work on his. He was glad he waited. He’d taken some secret liberties with his, such as the door which all but connected his house to Astrid’s.  
  
It was still difficult for him to fall asleep without Toothless’s warmth or snores next to him, and he still woke up screaming at least three times a week. But Astrid would always appear and was always there for him. She held him as they cried together, and most nights she didn’t even return to her own house.  
  
Tonight, he hoped he would be able to sleep. Astrid had been gone on a mission with Eret for nearly two weeks and wasn’t due home for at least one more. She’d been hesitant about going in the first place, not wanting to leave Hiccup. They spent nearly all of their time together, helping to mold New Berk into a home which would last generations. Whenever he was overwhelmed, he would defer to Astrid and vice versa. He knew that she needed to go, she needed to get away from home for a few days and be around dragons again. Hiccup couldn’t be the reason she gave up doing what she loved.  
  
He got into bed, pulling his blankets up all the way over his head. New Berk got just as cold as Berk, if not colder, and they didn’t have dragons to keep the fires going around the clock anymore.  
  
He lay there, thinking and struggling to fall asleep just as he did every night.  
  
His thoughts were clouded, filled with visions of Toothless flying after the pack, looking back to Hiccup one last time before he left. Though he wanted to believe that dragons would eventually come back, deep down, Hiccup knew it was the last time he would see his best friend. That would be the last thing he ever saw of him, locking eyes before he flew away to oblivion with the love of his life.  
  
His brooding was interrupted by a thunk into the wood above his head.  
  
The initial shock lasted only a few seconds before he groaned in annoyance. Ruff and Tuff.  
  
“What is wrong with you two?” He threw his blankets to the floor and sat up. He looked back, expecting to see an axe or an arrow lodged above his head. But instead he found a spike. A yellow and orange Nadder spike.  
  
He was losing his mind or trapped in a nightmare, but still he crept towards the front. If this was a cruel joke from the twins, he was going to rip them the worst new one they’d ever had.  
  
He opened his door as slowly as he could. If he was hallucinating, which he definitely was, he didn’t all of his people to see him and think he’d lost his mind.  
  
Instead, he saw no people. He saw a dragon, one he knew so well. One he had trained and ridden countless times. Astrid would kill him if she found out about this.  
  
“Stormfly?”  
  
-*-*-*-  
  
The Nadder cooed playfully, locking eyes with Hiccup and turning her head. In her mouth, she held a mangled piece of black metal and fabric. Toothless’s tail.  
  
Hiccup’s heart began beating faster than it ever had before. Was Toothless okay? Why did Stormfly have his tail? Had he fallen? Had he been attacked? Was he still alive?  
  
Stormfly broke him out of his thoughts with a squawk, jumping towards him and dropping the tail at his feet. She didn’t seem concerned or frantic in any way, but there was no feeling of relief. When Hiccup didn’t react, she nudged him with her tail and looked between him and the tail on the ground.  
  
She wanted him to do something about the mangled wreckage in front of him.  
  
Hiccup was having trouble gathering his thoughts, but held a finger to his lips, hopeful that the large and seldom-quiet dragon wouldn’t alert anyone to her presence. She seemed to get the message and moved into the small space between Hiccup’s and Astrid’s houses, cooing sadly into one of the windows. Hiccup’s heart was filled with the same ache which had been so horrible after all of the dragons had left.  
  
“She’s not here, Girl,” Hiccup said, stroking the area above her ears. She purred softly. “I’ll be right back.”  
  
Hiccup wasn’t really sure what he was doing. He knew he needed a tail fin and a mortar and pestle, but was he really about to go with Stormfly to the Hidden World? Was this really how he was going to see Toothless again?  
  
If Toothless had been hurt or worse, how would Hiccup deal with that? How could he live with himself if he’d encouraged Toothless to leave only for him to get injured? What if Toothless didn’t even remember him?  
  
Hiccup glanced to his left. There, in a large box, was all of his dragon equipment. Prosthetics with notches to fit into Toothless’s saddle, his fireproof armor covered in dragon scales, and a new version of Inferno he’d built when he was bored, knowing it would likely never get used. He opened the box and removed the last two items, knowing that if this trip was at all reminiscent of the last, he was probably going to get shot at by at least one dragon if not more. He threw his hastily-gathered equipment into a satchel and made his way back outside.  
  
Climbing onto Stormfly’s back, a feeling of calm he hadn’t felt for a year settled over him.  
  
The Nadder took off into the night sky in the direction of the Hidden World.  
  
The wind in his hair, the sea beneath him and touching the clouds, Hiccup felt more at home than he knew he ever would on New Berk. He remembered the first time he had that feeling, tethered to a stump with Toothless on a cliff. Of course, not long later the rope broke and they’d crashed into a tree, but it was the first time in his life he’d ever felt like he had a purpose.  
  
Hiccup paid as much attention as he could to his surroundings. He’d been tempted, over the past year, to pick up and leave New Berk. To get on a boat and sail until he reached the Hidden World or died trying. He knew Astrid thought about it too, but neither of them brought it up. If they agreed with each other, there would be nothing to stop an ill-fated voyage to nowhere.  
  
Before long, he heard the roar of the waterfall. Stormfly cawed as if telling him to hold on tight before diving straight down.  
  
-*-*-*-  
  
Hiccup was just as astounded as he had been the first time he saw the Hidden World. The bright colors, the enormous plants, the dragon utopia he’d always dreamed of creating shot by him as Stormfly flew towards the heart. When he saw him, he was laying alone on the floor as he watched all of the other dragons fly around him.  
  
_Toothless_.  
  
He sat up, a smile growing on his face as Hiccup and Stormfly flew nearer. He jumped around, clearly wanting to fly to meet them, but quickly looked back around at his tail. Hiccup was unceremoniously dropped next to Toothless while Stormfly flew off to Gods know where, leaving the two best friends alone.  
  
Tears sprung to Hiccup’s eyes. This was the moment he’d longed for for a year, and now that he was in it, he was frozen. Toothless looked good, he looked happy. He was just missing a tail.  
  
His dragon made the first move. He crawled over, nuzzling his face into Hiccup’s stomach. The weight on his shoulders disappeared and he hugged Toothless as tight as he could.  
  
“What did you do, Bud? Are things going to keep getting so rowdy here that Stormfly is going to bring me more destroyed tail fins? I put a lot of work into these, you know.”  
  
Toothless grunted back sarcastically, gesturing over his shoulder to where he had collected a small pile of scales. Hiccup chucked and got to work, getting out his materials and fireproofing the new tail. His best friend paced around him as he worked, purring and looking over Hiccup’s shoulders.  
  
When he was finished, Toothless quickly gave Hiccup his tail. Sure enough, the new tail worked like a charm, and the dragon took a few laps around the clearing before landing. He gestured for his friend to get on his back.  
  
Hiccup put his hand on Toothless’s nose. If he got on, if he rode his dragon again, everything he’d worked to overcome for the past year would come flooding back. Toothless would leave him standing on New Berk again. There would be a new image burned into his mind, another year exactly like the past. He watched as the dragon’s pupil’s widened, a look of concern and confusion spreading over his face.  
  
Hiccup’s body moved without his mind telling it to. He threw his leg over Toothless’s back, settling into the riding position he’d gotten so used to for six years. He felt like everything he’d gone through had disappeared, like Grimmel had never come, like he and Toothless were merely expanding their map and would return to their cabin on Berk within just a few hours.  
  
He felt at home.  
  
Toothless took off, his huge wings carrying them through his new home and into the waterfall. He broke out into the night sky, shooting a blast up in front of him like he used to when Hiccup would fly alongside him. Hiccup couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this free.  
  
Toothless had fun with the flight. Hiccup couldn’t tell if he was excited to have his rider back or if he was excited to be in the open air again, but he didn’t care. He never wanted this moment to end. He held on though flips and rolls, streamed his hand over the surface of the water and felt the cold mist of the clouds litter his skin. He was fifteen again, he had just thrown away his cheat sheet, and he was flying for the first time.  
  
He didn’t notice at first when Toothless touched down. He continued marching on into the edge of town, letting Hiccup off his back when they reached what Toothless had picked out as his house. He peered into the windows, clearly curious.  
  
Hiccup smiled and walked in the front door, reaching for the lever. Astrid had asked what it was for, but he never told her. It was his little secret that he would keep until the day the dragons came back if they ever did. When the lever was pulled down, the roof opened up, the metal flaps curling back into each other to form a perfect circle. Even if the dragons never came back, he had a pretty awesome skylight.  
  
Toothless jumped up on the top of the house and in through the skylight, landing in the center of the floor. He cooed, laying down next to Hiccup’s bed. He didn’t seem to have any intentions of leaving.  
  
Hiccup wanted more than anything to talk to him, to play with him, and to go flying with him for the rest of the night. But both he and his best friend were exhausted.  
  
Hiccup picked his covers up from the floor and got in bed, Toothless’s low snores lulling him to sleep.  
  
Toothless was gone when Hiccup woke up the next morning, this time having made an exit which Hiccup didn’t have to watch.  
  
-*-*-*-  
  
Astrid was home by the end of the week, just as she’d promised.  
  
She ran into Hiccup’s house without knocking, the door slamming into the wood and shaking back into place.  
  
Hiccup was startled at first, but melted into the arms around his neck, picking Astrid up off of the floor slightly. He’d been so distracted he hadn’t noticed how much he had missed her.  
  
Astrid told him about the Nadder and her babies which they’d found captured by some of Drago’s old followers. Her faced beamed when she told him she’d gotten to ride her to safety.  
  
“So,” she said, looking at the discarded satchel on the floor. “What kind of trouble did you get into while I was gone?”  
  
Hiccup smiled.  
  
Did he have a story for her or what?


End file.
